Pinterest Inspired Wednesday- crock pot mac n cheese

I love crock pot recipes on Pinterest.  I think this is the 4th or 5th one I've tried.  I was so excited about it, but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

Here is the pin that inspired me:

Source: whiskandaprayer.blogspot.com via ncsuz on Pinterest

Crock-pot Mac n Cheese

1 1/2 cups milk

One 12 oz can evaporated milk (I used skim, evaporated milk keeps the egg and milk from curdling)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temp

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups (12 oz) shredded cheese (I used an Italian blend, recipe calls for Italian fontina cheese)

1/2 pound elbow macaroni or mini penne tubes, par cooked and drained (this means cook them for about five minutes until tender but not completely cooked)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Spray the inside of your slow-cooker with cooking spray or grease it with olive oil. Combine milk, evaporated milk, eggs, butter, and salt in slow-cooker and whisk until until smooth.

Add the shredded cheese (not the Parmesan) and macaroni, sprinkle with black pepper). Stir gently with a spatula to coat evenly. 

Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top. Cover and cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, reduce the temperature to LOW and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until custard is set in the center and the pasta is tender. The macaroni and cheese may sit in the cooker on the KEEP WARM setting for 30 minutes before serving

Here is how mine turned out:

Even though I sprayed my crock-pot with cooking spray, I burned the crap out of mine.  But no worries, I just threw out the burnt parts:

And then it was perfect:

When I was little one of my friend's mom's would make us the mac and cheese from the blue box and put baked beans on top.  Sounds weird but I love it!  So I added some baked beans too:

Overall I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.  It was easy and pretty good, but I had way too high expectations for this and they were not met.  I might make it again, but not something I see myself craving.

So...the reason why I really started this Pinterest Inspired Wednesday series was because I want to see what you guys have made, bought, baked, or have been inspired to DO based on a pin you pinned on pinterest!  Sometimes they turn out good and sometimes not so good.  Was it all you ever hoped for or did it let you down?  Was it as easy as they say or incredibly hard?  I want to give you guys a place to link up to and see what other people have tried from Pinterest.  I am going to keep doing these every Wednesday through the end of May and have the link up available here, so share your experiences too! 

And as always so I can get more ideas of things to DO!